


then I really have to go

by godcheekbones



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-13
Updated: 2017-04-13
Packaged: 2018-10-18 10:23:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10614936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/godcheekbones/pseuds/godcheekbones
Summary: in which Baekhyun quietly sings to Chanyeol, one last time.





	

‘my chanyeol,’ baekhyun mumbles. he frowns at the distance between him and the railing on the bed. he scoots over to sit on the mattress.

a soft white hand reaches out to brush the unruly brown curls. the brown dye has almost completely faded. baekhyun absent-mindedly props his elbows on the pillow.

it takes a moment for baekhyun to realize that tears are slipping down his hollow cheeks. they drip onto the woolly blanket and disappear. it is chanyeol’s blanket. by now, half the room at home is empty. baekhyun feels sad when he returns home. sometimes, when darker thoughts haunt him, baekhyun panics when he can’t find chanyeol’s items in the house. baekhyun’s friend, kyungsoo, thinks otherwise. kyungsoo says that baekhyun is merely moving all of chanyeol’s possessions to where he is, and points out that at least another quarter of the room is shifted – baekhyun’s stuff – into the hospital room too.

‘silly kyungsoo,’ reflects baekhyun. but kyungsoo brings flowers every monday, for the pretty vase sitting on the dresser beside the heart monitor. (though kyungsoo has the flower shop to deliver it. well. it’s better than most people.)

there are vague wheel squeaks coming from the corridor. food trolleys are being carted across the clean floors to take away remnants of dinner. visiting hours will be over soon. baekhyun dreads them everyday; maybe irrationally so.

baekhyun wipes his eyes furiously with the edge of his sleeve. he scolds himself for not being with chanyeol that day. ‘but there are important things to settle, chanyeol-ah,’ baekhyun whispers with regret. the funds for the hospital are running dangerously low now. everyone had chipped in at the beginning; family, friends. but nobody had expected him to remain sleeping for so long. then again, nobody had expected the medicine cabinet to be emptied, and the half-drunk cocktail of pills and medicinal syrup to be spilled and soaked into the carpet, all those months ago.

as always, baekhyun rises halfway in his chair to drop a goodbye kiss on chanyeol’s forehead. ‘i’ll sing one last time for you, okay, chanyeollie?’ baekhyun whispers, with a familiar tenderness. ‘then i really have to go.’

 

 

the next day, chanyeol wakes up with a yawn on the extra mattress the hospital sets up for visitors. he blinks sleep from his eyes. he puts a hand over the railings of the hospital bed. light is streaming in delicate patches from the window blinds. they paint patches on baekhyun’s still face and white hospital gown.

  
there is a peaceful look on baekhyun’s face. chanyeol knows. he just knows. he puts the heels of his hands to his eyes. for a moment, he is quiet.

“it’s morning, my baekhyunnie,” chanyeol whispers. “you must have been so tired from staying up last night, i heard you singing.”

he struggles not to cry.

“so-so sleep well now, okay?”


End file.
